Striking convergent selection history of wheat and barley and its potential for breeding

Mamadou Dia Sow; Cristian Forestan; Caroline Pont; Peter Civan; Raffaella Battaglia; Michael Seidel; Clea Siguret; Pasquale Luca Curci; Alessandro Tondelli; Daniela Bustos Korts; Elisabetta Mazzucotelli; Thibault Leroy; Cécile Huneau; Manon Delahaye; Danara Ormanbekova; Matteo Bozzoli; Perle Guarino-Vignon; Caroline Schaal; Manon Cabanis; Marie Lelievre; Jean Cayrol; Davide Guerra; Domenica Nigro; Agata Gadaleta; Jennifer Ens; Krystalee Wiebe; Beth Shapiro; Richard E Green; Fred van Eeuwijk; Micha Bayer; Joanne Russell; Ian Dawson; Robbie Waugh; Benjamin Kilian; Ludovic Orlando; Gabriella Sonnante; Curtis J Pozniak; Roberto Tuberosa; Georg Haberer; Marco Maccaferri; Luigi Cattivelli; Jerome Salse

doi:10.1038/s41477-025-02128-0

Striking convergent selection history of wheat and barley and its potential for breeding

Mamadou Dia Sow
, Cristian Forestan
, Caroline Pont
, Peter Civan
, Raffaella Battaglia
, Michael Seidel
, Clea Siguret
, Pasquale Luca Curci
, Alessandro Tondelli
, Daniela Bustos Korts
, Elisabetta Mazzucotelli
, Thibault Leroy
, Cécile Huneau
, Manon Delahaye
, Danara Ormanbekova
, Matteo Bozzoli
, Perle Guarino-Vignon
, Caroline Schaal
, Manon Cabanis
, Marie Lelievre

Jean Cayrol, Davide Guerra, Domenica Nigro, Agata Gadaleta, Jennifer Ens, Krystalee Wiebe, Beth Shapiro, Richard E Green, Fred van Eeuwijk, Micha Bayer, Joanne Russell, Ian Dawson, Robbie Waugh, Benjamin Kilian, Ludovic Orlando, Gabriella Sonnante, Curtis J Pozniak, Roberto Tuberosa, Georg Haberer, Marco Maccaferri, Luigi Cattivelli, Jerome Salse

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Abstract

Over the past 10,000 years, the development of civilization has been enabled by the domestication of plants and animals tailored to human needs. The Triticeae tribe, including barley and wheat, has emerged as one of the most important sources of staple foods worldwide. Here, comparing genomes of wheat and barley genotypes from around the world, we unveiled genomic footprints of convergent selection affecting genes involved in crop adaptation and productivity, as well as a lack of parallel selection for diverse genes delivering genetic diversity specific to particular geographic and associated environmental conditions. We demonstrate that studying convergent selection between crops can help to identify genes crucial for adaptation and sources of diversity for improving cultivated species-forming the basis of the proposed concept of inter-crop translational research for breeding.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	2268-2285
Number of pages	18
Journal	Nature Plants
Volume	11
Issue number	11
Early online date	17 Nov 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02128-0
Publication status	First published - 17 Nov 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025.

Keywords

Hordeum
Triticum
Crops, Agricultural
Genotype
Genome, Plant
Genetic Variation
Selection, Genetic
Plant Breeding
Hordeum/genetics
Crops, Agricultural/genetics
Triticum/genetics

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s41477-025-02128-0Final published version, 4.34 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Sow, M. D., Forestan, C., Pont, C., Civan, P., Battaglia, R., Seidel, M., Siguret, C., Curci, P. L., Tondelli, A., Bustos Korts, D., Mazzucotelli, E., Leroy, T., Huneau, C., Delahaye, M., Ormanbekova, D., Bozzoli, M., Guarino-Vignon, P., Schaal, C., Cabanis, M., ... Salse, J. (2025). Striking convergent selection history of wheat and barley and its potential for breeding. Nature Plants, 11(11), 2268-2285. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02128-0

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abstract = "Over the past 10,000 years, the development of civilization has been enabled by the domestication of plants and animals tailored to human needs. The Triticeae tribe, including barley and wheat, has emerged as one of the most important sources of staple foods worldwide. Here, comparing genomes of wheat and barley genotypes from around the world, we unveiled genomic footprints of convergent selection affecting genes involved in crop adaptation and productivity, as well as a lack of parallel selection for diverse genes delivering genetic diversity specific to particular geographic and associated environmental conditions. We demonstrate that studying convergent selection between crops can help to identify genes crucial for adaptation and sources of diversity for improving cultivated species-forming the basis of the proposed concept of inter-crop translational research for breeding.",

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doi = "10.1038/s41477-025-02128-0",

language = "English",

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Sow, MD, Forestan, C, Pont, C, Civan, P, Battaglia, R, Seidel, M, Siguret, C, Curci, PL, Tondelli, A, Bustos Korts, D, Mazzucotelli, E, Leroy, T, Huneau, C, Delahaye, M, Ormanbekova, D, Bozzoli, M, Guarino-Vignon, P, Schaal, C, Cabanis, M, Lelievre, M, Cayrol, J, Guerra, D, Nigro, D, Gadaleta, A, Ens, J, Wiebe, K, Shapiro, B, Green, RE, van Eeuwijk, F, Bayer, M, Russell, J, Dawson, I, Waugh, R, Kilian, B, Orlando, L, Sonnante, G, Pozniak, CJ, Tuberosa, R, Haberer, G, Maccaferri, M, Cattivelli, L & Salse, J 2025, 'Striking convergent selection history of wheat and barley and its potential for breeding', Nature Plants, vol. 11, no. 11, pp. 2268-2285. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-02128-0

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AU - Sow, Mamadou Dia

AU - Forestan, Cristian

AU - Pont, Caroline

AU - Civan, Peter

AU - Battaglia, Raffaella

AU - Seidel, Michael

AU - Siguret, Clea

AU - Curci, Pasquale Luca

AU - Tondelli, Alessandro

AU - Bustos Korts, Daniela

AU - Mazzucotelli, Elisabetta

AU - Leroy, Thibault

AU - Huneau, Cécile

AU - Delahaye, Manon

AU - Ormanbekova, Danara

AU - Bozzoli, Matteo

AU - Guarino-Vignon, Perle

AU - Schaal, Caroline

AU - Cabanis, Manon

AU - Lelievre, Marie

AU - Cayrol, Jean

AU - Guerra, Davide

AU - Nigro, Domenica

AU - Gadaleta, Agata

AU - Ens, Jennifer

AU - Wiebe, Krystalee

AU - Shapiro, Beth

AU - Green, Richard E

AU - van Eeuwijk, Fred

AU - Bayer, Micha

AU - Russell, Joanne

AU - Dawson, Ian

AU - Waugh, Robbie

AU - Kilian, Benjamin

AU - Orlando, Ludovic

AU - Sonnante, Gabriella

AU - Pozniak, Curtis J

AU - Tuberosa, Roberto

AU - Haberer, Georg

AU - Maccaferri, Marco

AU - Cattivelli, Luigi

AU - Salse, Jerome

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AB - Over the past 10,000 years, the development of civilization has been enabled by the domestication of plants and animals tailored to human needs. The Triticeae tribe, including barley and wheat, has emerged as one of the most important sources of staple foods worldwide. Here, comparing genomes of wheat and barley genotypes from around the world, we unveiled genomic footprints of convergent selection affecting genes involved in crop adaptation and productivity, as well as a lack of parallel selection for diverse genes delivering genetic diversity specific to particular geographic and associated environmental conditions. We demonstrate that studying convergent selection between crops can help to identify genes crucial for adaptation and sources of diversity for improving cultivated species-forming the basis of the proposed concept of inter-crop translational research for breeding.

KW - Hordeum

KW - Triticum

KW - Crops, Agricultural

KW - Genotype

KW - Genome, Plant

KW - Genetic Variation

KW - Selection, Genetic

KW - Plant Breeding

KW - Hordeum/genetics

KW - Crops, Agricultural/genetics

KW - Triticum/genetics

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105022234465

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DO - 10.1038/s41477-025-02128-0

M3 - Article

C2 - 41254200

SN - 2055-026X

VL - 11

SP - 2268

EP - 2285

JO - Nature Plants

JF - Nature Plants

IS - 11

ER -

Striking convergent selection history of wheat and barley and its potential for breeding

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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